50 Santa Farma employees volunteered to vocalize 125 fairy tales confirmed by psychologists from home in order to cheer up children who are fighting cancer during their long-term hospitalization for treatment. After the volunteers vocalized the fairy tales which were intended to put a smile in the faces of children treated at Pediatric Oncology and Hematology service at Dokuz Eylül University Research an Implementation Hospital under the “Happy Tales” project, Laughter Heals Association added music and recorded the stories on mp3 players which were delivered to children who receive treatment. Corporate communications manager Seçil Yüksel, who was in charge of the entire process, talked about the project …
- When and how did you launch 'Happy Tales' project? Who volunteered for the project? Could you tell us in detail about the project?
Laughter Heals Association is one of the non-governmental organizations with which we collaborated for different projects before. Last year, we were having difficulty in finding a suitable social responsibility project due to the pandemic and this project appealed to us because we could undertake it in our home or office. After we announced the project on our corporate portal, several employees from the head office, plant and site. After vocalizing 100 fairy tales with 58 volunteers last year, we vocalized 125 fairy tales with 50 volunteers this year. Some of the employees vocalized them with their spouses and children.
- It is scientifically proven that psychological wellbeing has an important role in cancer treatment in addition to medications. Has this fact had an impact on your participation in this project?
Well, it is scientifically proven that a good morale and sense of wellbeing are important factors for treatments. When people are unhappy or stressful, their cortisol levels will rise which will lead to deterioration in immunization. Laughing 10 minutes a day increases serotonin, reinforces immunization and even raises pain threshold. As pediatric oncologists underline, children who laugh, have fun, feel happy and socialize are able to complete the treatment process more easily and satisfactorily. So, we wanted to make a small contribution to children struggling against such a stressful disease with our happy tales so that they could overcome this challenging period in their lives more easily.
- How many children did you reach? What was their feedback? What do you expect to achieve as a result of this project?
So far, we have reached around 15,700 children thanks to individual and corporate sponsors. The association informed us that both children and their families gave quite positive feedback to our project as we were able to help them feel that they were not alone during long hospitalization periods by presenting mp3 players containing fairy tales read for them by volunteers with the confirmation of psychologists. We aim to provide ongoing support to the project since children in hospitals are always replaced by new children.
- Could you tell us about your future targets and projects?
We actively conduct joint projects with non-governmental organizations for long years. In 2022, we plan to undertake beneficial projects for the good of the society in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This year, we are making preparations for a social responsibility project aiming specifically women who intend to pursue a career in healthcare industry. It will be a pilot study for a long-term project. Our goal is to create equal opportunity in science and technology, increase the number of women in technology industry and help women who intend to work in our industry gain the skills required in our modern world.